Improvement in railway car-couplings



EDWARD UMEIER.

Improvement in Railway Car Couplings.

Patented June 6.1871.

Parana @rrron.

EDWARD J). MEIER, on sr. LOUIS, MrssouuI.

' EMPROVEMENT 1N RAiLwAv CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,627, dated June 6,1871.

To all whom it may'conccrn: I

Be it known that I, Enwann D. MEIER, of St. Louis, in the county of St.Louis and State of Missouri, have made certain new and usefulImprovements in Gar-Couplers; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full and true description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of this invention is chiefly to form a safe and efficientself-connecting carcoupler, specially adapted for freight, stock, orpassenger cars, besides being generally adapted to couple cars where theusual coupling-pin and ordinary draw-head are used, and which shallalso, in its use and application, guard against the inconveniences,difficulties, and accidents known to result from the ordinary method ofcoupling cars. To achieve said objects, the nature of my inventionconsists in the combination of a hooked coupling with an ordinarydraw-head or bumper of a railroad car, substantially as hereinafterdescribed.

To enable those herein skilled to make and use my said invention, I willnow more fully describe the same, referring to the accompanymg tion,showing my improved couplers locked 5 to Fig. 2 as detail top and bottomplans, respectively, of the coupling hooks or bars 5 to Fig. 3 as afront or end elevation.

Same letters of reference indicate sameparts in the difi'erent figuresof the drawing.

Inthe drawing, A represents the sills, A the end sills, A the floors, Athe dead wood, and A the draw-head timbers, of a railroad car. 13 arethe draw-heads or bumpers, of wrought or cast iron, supported by thedrawpins 0 carrying the springs 0, held by followers D, workingandsecured in guides D; otherwise said draw-heads B rest on yokes or strapsd,-secured properly to the draw-timbers A. The draw or coupling bars Eare coupled to the draw-pins G by a pin, 0, passing through thedraw-head and draw-bars, so as to allow said draw-bars to have perfectfreedom of action in their vertical movements. At their forward ends thedraw-bars E have arrowheads E, with their shoulders c inclined at anangle less than a right angle, as clearly Figure 1 as a longitudinalsectional eleva shown in Fig. 1, thus insuring at all timesa return tothe locked position even, if it at first is but imperfectly locked, andalso preventing uncoupling while the cars are in motion, unless a slackbetween the cars is first produced.

Also, the heads E of said bars have their upper shoulders 6 formedconcave, while their lower shoulders c are formed convex-like, asclearly shown in Fig. 2. This insures a hearing at the center of thehead E, and in curv ing prevents lateral strains on the pinsc. In orderto couple with ordinary draw-heads the heads E 'of the draw-bars arefurthermore flattened out or deflected, and have elongated holes 6 toreceive the usual coupling-pin, as

shown in Fig. 1. Lastly, said draw-heads E i serves also to connect thecurved extension levers F, pivoted respectively'at f and f to the endsills A as shown in Figs. 1 an '3. A slot, in each lever allows for therequired lifting movements of the pin f At the bottom I connect saiddraw-bars E, by a link, g, to a suitable spring, G, pivoted or bolted atg to the rear end of the draw-heads. The spring G, by its tension, andthe link attachments, by their weight, serve to assist the draw-bars Ein dropping down into lock or rest. The draw-heads being set on the lineof draft, as usual, the middle of the upper shoulder of each draw-bar atrifle lower than said line, they will readily look as the cars comeincontact with each other; the drawhead, which, by reason of dilference inlevel of track or the road-bed, or in load, or in strength of springs ofthe car, being higher, sliding up and over the other draw-head andlooking, as shown in Fig. 1. As soon as the cars have somewhat slackedtheir draft, the operator, in order to uncouple,raises the levers F ofthe higher draw-bar, which, by means of the chains f, raises thedraw-bar E to a sufficient height to enable the remaining or under barto be withdrawn, The guides H, secured to the end sills A serve tosteady the levers 13 while the cars are in motion, and also to insuretheir return to the proper positions after uncoupling. The cushions h,of wood, rubber, or any elastic substance, are firmly secured insuitable recesses in the draw-heads B in order to break the effect ofsudden jars or concussions, and to catch the draw-bars'E as they dropafter uncoupling. To uncouple from a box or stock car, a third lever maybe placed on top ofthe car, connecting by a chain with either of thelevers F shown, or directly to the chain attachment f, thus in all casesenabling the brakemen to uncouple from the car orfrom the ground withoutstepping between the cars. For a passenger-car an angle-lever is used,working from the platform.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

In combination with the ordinary draw-head or bumper B, the draw-bars E,spring G, link unto set my hand.

' v 'EQD. MEIER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM H; HERTHEL, ROBERT BURNS.

